A World of Stars ➳ A Zodiac Story

Chapter Seventeen: "A Continued Tale of Camping"

  They rushed through the dark forest, swerving past trees, not caring whether or not a branch came into contact with their faces. Cancer frowned slightly, he felt weird about the situation. He couldn't sense any tension in Sagittarius's mind. He brushed it off, his worry for Aquarius consuming him. Libra reached first, thanks to her practice on the track team. She came to a halt abruptly, causing Aries, who was close behind to bump into her. "Why did you stop?" Aries hissed. Everyone caught up shortly afterward, panting for breath. Libra pointed a quivering finger. They followed it to see a figure lying lifelessly a little way in front of them. Capricorn caught a glimpse of blue in the tree behind the figure, but it was gone as she blinked.

"Aquarius," Sagittarius whimpered and sprinted over. Again, Cancer still couldn't sense anything, in fact, he could almost sense a hint of joy in her mind.

"Wait! It could be a trap!" Leo yelled after her, but she was already kneeling down next to the body. They paused for a moment, however, when nothing happened they all joined her. Scorpio gently turned the body and furrowed his brows in frustration as he shot up.

"A DUMMY!?" He bellowed in surprise and anger. Out of the blue, there came the snapping of twigs behind the huddled group. They spun around just as a masked figure emerged. It jumped at them,

"BOO!" It shouted. They all screamed in unison. As their squealing died down, they noticed an eruption of giggles from behind them. They turned to see Sagittarius laying on the ground, her eyes were squeezed shut tightly and tears pricked at the corner of her eyes, tears of laughter. Her hysterical laughter was soon joined by the man in the mask. They stared at her as though she was mad when the man decided to take off the mask. It was Aquarius.

They turned back to Sagittarius, who lay on the ground. Aquarius held his stomach as though in pain and was laughing his ass off. It took a second for the rest to realize what was going on. It had been a prank. "That was not funny." Taurus finally said. "We actually got so scared for a second."

"Y-you should have seen your faces!" Aquarius spoke in between his bouts of laughter. Pisces pouted adorably,

"You scared us." He whimpered. Aquarius wiped away a few tears and advanced towards Pisces with his arms outstretched.

"Aww, don't cry Piscy," Aquarius wrapped his arms around him as Pisces rolled his eyes.

"Awe! Group hug!" Taurus exclaimed as he joined them. Soon they were all wrapped around each other, all apart from Scorpio and Leo.

"I hate hugs," Leo said,

"I hate affection." Scorpio agreed.

"Come on!" Gemini extended a hand to them, but they both shook their heads simultaneously. However, they weren't going to get away that easily. Before they could protest, Capricorn and Aries had gripped their arms and pulled them. Unfortunately, they had pulled a little to harshly and the two boys stumbled into the hug, resulting in everybody, the two boys included, falling down. As they lay in a pile on the floor, they caught each other's eye and they all burst into fits of laughter.

• • •

  Back at the campsite, they began to pack in for the night. "One more song!" Virgo shouted as Pisces sat down with the ukelele in his lap. "How about... Budapest?"

"Hmm, interesting choice, let's do it," Libra replied, plopping herself down on the bench next to him. A few of them exchanged confused glances, but as Pisces began to strum with his skilled fingers, recognition dawned on their face. They sang their hearts out, as though it was the last time they were going to sing. Their laughter echoed through the quiet woods.